Only four more days until Christmas! How was your weekend? We spent a chunk of it building Ikea stuff (I mainly supervised), made SO MANY latkes for dinner, had friends over for lunch and today I need to start packing for our trip, get a gel manicure (a must when I travel), finish Serial and wrap presents! Busy but good!

recommended reading:

If you’re making food gifts this year, check out 19 Wrapping Ideas for Your Food Gifts. This year I bought some food gifts but made zero. I also never got around to making Christmas cookies. Maybe today?

Breakfast on Christmas should be special and it should be delicious. 20 Make-Ahead Holiday Breakfasts is full of gorgeous sweet and savory breakfasts so that you can focus on presents, or family, or coffee or whatever you focus on Christmas morning!

And speaking of breakfast, egg bakes are a tradition in my family and I love this Layered Vegetarian Egg Bake, filled with potatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and kale. Oh! And cheese. Never forget the cheese.

In the last few days, I’ve managed to just about finish up my Christmas shopping. We spent the evening at The Grove (an outdoor mall in LA) and it’s one of my favorite ways to get into the holiday spirit – and for reasons that go far beyond the shopping. The whole mall is decked with decorations, there are live musicians playing holiday favorites and lots of little kids waiting in line (and a lot of pets?!) to get their picture taken with Santa. And fake snow! It’s quite magical.

Are you still shopping? If so, I’ve got a few gift ideas for your favorite healthy foodie!

Are your weekends filled with shopping and baking? We spent the day (seriously) at Ikea yesterday so technically we were shopping, but unfortunately it was not for holiday gifts! Our new apartment is lacking (understatement of the year) storage space so figuring out how we can fit everything into our place has been challenging to say the least. I *think* we’ve come up with some good solutions, though Richie might be putting together Ikea stuff until 2016.

recommended reading:

I’m determined to bake at least one cookie this year, but I have no idea what yet! I know most people stick with their family tradition cookies, but if you need some inspiration, check out 32 Cookie Recipes for Holidays and More from Bon Appétit. (And if you have a favorite, link below, I’d love to see what you are baking!)

If your holiday brunches include a bit of booze, please drink some of this Breakfast Sangria for me!

Hi, hi! After quite the work week, yesterday was full of relaxing activities: coffee + laptop in the morning, a yoga class, whole foods salad bar and an afternoon in the kitchen working on a few recipes. Oh! And ordering some curtains for the baby room. I wish I could say, “It’s really coming together!” but that would be a total lie. I have curtains (in the mail). And that’s about it. But you have to start somewhere! If you have any registry/nursery recommendations, I’m all ears…

recommended reading:

Is there anything better than cinnamon toast? It’s been years since I’ve had it but after two references to cinnamon toast this week I’ve decided that cream cheese cinnamon toast brulee is necessary this week.

I love making food gifts over the holidays – especially ones that aren’t necessarily sweet and need to be eaten right away. 40 Homemade Gifts from The Kitchn has a great list of cookies, candies, nuts and cocktail mixers to choose from.

Hi, I’m Emily

I love simple, delicious food that happens to be healthy. And that's what I share here! My husband and I live in Los Angeles (but are both from the Midwest) and I work at an anti-hunger nonprofit. Read More…